Bancon Group reports significantly increased profits

Bancon Group chief executive John Irvine (right) with Andrew Tweedie, group finance director (left)

ABERDEENSHIRE-based housebuilder and construction company Bancon Group has reported a 24% increase in turnover, on comparable pre-pandemic years, and 55% on the previous Covid-impacted year.

For the year ended 31 March 2022, turnover is up to £114 million, with operating profits increasing from £1.4 million to £4.9 million compared to the previous year.

Pre-tax profits rose from £200,000 to £2.7 million, which was attributed to a a full year’s trading with ‘strong’ performances in the homes and timber frame businesses.

Bancon Homes delivered a ‘significant’ uplift in profit following a record year for sales of private homes across markets in Aberdeen city and shire and the central belt. This momentum has been carried into the new financial year with 60% of its target sales for 2022/23 already secured.

Two new developments in the Aberdeenshire market were launched and the acquisition of further sites in the central belt are expected to complete in the coming months.

Deeside Timberframe delivered record turnover as a result of increased activity in both social and private housing. The business is investing to increase production capacity in order to capitalise on demand for offsite construction methods. Sales of over £30 million have already been secured for 2022/23.

Bancon Construction also reported an operating profit but had a more ‘challenging’ year due to supply chain disruption and rising costs. The group said steps were taken to strengthen the management of the business, pooling expertise from the wider group aligned to a ‘more focused strategy’.

This, coupled with a forward order book approaching double the level in 2021, is expected to boost trading performance of the construction business.

Bancon Group chief executive, John Irvine, said, “The underlying strength of the group, together with our clear strategy, has resulted in considerably increased profits, despite the well-documented headwinds being experienced by the industry. We have entered the current financial year with strong forward orders across all our businesses and continue to focus on our longer-term growth by significantly investing in the attraction, retention and development of people and increasing the production capacity of Deeside Timberframe.

“With these strong foundations and proactive measures we’ve taken to address the challenges of supply chain disruption, recruitment and rising costs, I am optimistic that we will produce another strong performance in the current year.”